Expressed and Unexpressed Sin
Famous American author Elbert Hubbard once said, “We are punished by our sins, not for them.” No matter how true this statement stands in real life, Daniel Hawthorne proves its truth in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Within the novel, the townspeople punish the main character Hester for her sin of adultery. As a result, the townspeople and the jury require Hester to wear a scarlet letter upon her chest. The author hides Hester’s counterpart in the crime of adultery from the public and for seven years he never confesses his sin. Throughout the book The Scarlet Letter, the author, Hawthorne, conveys the idea that unexpressed sin can suppress one’s feelings towards themselves by presenting two separate characters, one with each form of sin expression.
Hester, the character with expressed sin, faces consequences because of her transgressions. Despite this, she does not live her whole life feeling terrible. Instead, Hester feels redeemed. Portrayed as a strong and able character, Hawthorne uses Hester as proof that confessing sin benefits a person. After Hester had bore the consequences of her actions for many years, …show more content…
The author conveys this by producing two separate characters, each bearing their own version of sin expression, compared throughout the story. Hester has expressed sin and as a result feels redeemed with less overall guilt. Dimmesdale has unexpressed sin and his greatest transgression eventually drives him to his grave because he can never find peace with himself. Any reader can see by example of the characters in this story, hiding sin and allowing it to fester inside of oneself only harms a person. Therefore, when someone performs an action looked down upon, they need to own up to it instead of hide it. Eventually the sin will find a way to punish its
Famous American author Elbert Hubbard once said, “We are punished by our sins, not for them.” No matter how true this statement stands in real life, Daniel Hawthorne proves its truth in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Within the novel, the townspeople punish the main character Hester for her sin of adultery. As a result, the townspeople and the jury require Hester to wear a scarlet letter upon her chest. The author hides Hester’s counterpart in the crime of adultery from the public and for seven years he never confesses his sin. Throughout the book The Scarlet Letter, the author, Hawthorne, conveys the idea that unexpressed sin can suppress one’s feelings towards themselves by presenting two separate characters, one with each form of sin expression.
Hester, the character with expressed sin, faces consequences because of her transgressions. Despite this, she does not live her whole life feeling terrible. Instead, Hester feels redeemed. Portrayed as a strong and able character, Hawthorne uses Hester as proof that confessing sin benefits a person. After Hester had bore the consequences of her actions for many years, …show more content…
The author conveys this by producing two separate characters, each bearing their own version of sin expression, compared throughout the story. Hester has expressed sin and as a result feels redeemed with less overall guilt. Dimmesdale has unexpressed sin and his greatest transgression eventually drives him to his grave because he can never find peace with himself. Any reader can see by example of the characters in this story, hiding sin and allowing it to fester inside of oneself only harms a person. Therefore, when someone performs an action looked down upon, they need to own up to it instead of hide it. Eventually the sin will find a way to punish its